


the healing balance

by politicalmamaduck



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Healing, Force Visions, Huddling For Warmth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 16:20:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16411826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/politicalmamaduck/pseuds/politicalmamaduck
Summary: The battle was over; the war was won. The Finalizer was a smoking ruin; General Hux’s attempted mutiny had backfired as the Resistance attacked and finally incapacitated the First Order leadership. Kylo Ren was missing, presumed dead at the hands of the last Jedi, who must have succumbed to her own injuries. Neither body was found.So said the initial official report of the aftermath.





	the healing balance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aionimica](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aionimica/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [Исцеляющий баланс](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754812) by [Elafira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elafira/pseuds/Elafira)



> Written for V/aionimica as her gift for winning my 1000 Tumblr follower giveaway! Her prompt was Kylo and Rey having to huddle together for warmth; bonus points for tending to each other/healing each other’s wounds. I hope I did it justice!

The battle was over; the war was won. The _Finalizer_ was a smoking ruin; General Hux’s attempted mutiny had backfired as the Resistance attacked and finally incapacitated the First Order leadership. Kylo Ren was missing, presumed dead at the hands of the last Jedi, who must have succumbed to her own injuries. Neither body was found.

So said the initial official report of the aftermath. General Leia Organa knew better.

 

* * *

 

After battle, the adrenaline no longer masked wounds and exhaustion was setting in.  

Before sleep, however, healing and shelter were her first priority. The temperature was dropping precipitously, and the terrain was scorched from blaster fire and machinery.

The last Jedi stood at the edge of the battlefield, looking out over the devastation, taking a deep breath to steady herself and center herself in the Force.

Then she got to work, limping and bleeding though she was. She pulled Ben Solo’s unconscious body upward, drawing on the Force to help lift him and bear his weight and carry him off the battlefield and into the dark forest where they could hide and heal. At least she hoped they could hide and heal for a time without being discovered by either the First Order remnant, out for revenge, or the Resistance, collecting the wounded and dead and creating propaganda by the minute.

All around her, the forest teemed with life, the Force presence a balm for her weary soul and body. She had never shed her amazement at green planets with forests, no matter how many she was fortunate to visit while helping the Resistance or searching for more Jedi lore. As birds chirped, breaking the eerie quiet that had descended upon the forest the further she wandered in, their calls and song provided her the distraction she needed to keep her mind off her pain and exhaustion to find them a suitable place to rest and heal. Pressing onward into the forest, it was as though the battle had never happened. The scorched earth and bloodshed was far away now, the sounds of metal creaking and collapsing and rescue parties faded away under the power of birdsong and tree cover.

Up ahead, the trees began to give way to rocks leading up to the mountains. Rey’s vision was strained, but she thought she could see a small opening, blanketed by fallen leaves. She stumbled towards it.

It was cool and dark in the cave. It seemed the perfect place to hide, for the time being. She hoped that the foliage above and the thick rock would hide their thermal energy from Resistance scanners.

He was heavy, so heavy, a physical weight on her shoulders matching the one on her soul. She couldn’t leave him; she had never given up hope that he would return to the light, that he would return to her. Rey was tired, so tired of bearing the burden of her role as the last Jedi and her secrets in her heart.

It almost looked as though he were sleeping, if one could look past the blood and obvious bruises. She wanted to lay down beside him, curl up against him, pull his big arm around her, and go to sleep, but she knew she could not; if she did, neither of them would ever wake up again. He was more dangerously wounded than she.

So she took another deep breath, centering herself in the Force. She closed her eyes. She reached out with both her hands, placing them on him to anchor them both physically in the corporeal world and in the world that lay beyond, and with her feelings, reassured by his presence in the Force.

They had always been drawn to each other, a sun and a moon vying for dominance, casting light and shadow wherever they went. He was the moon upon which she would cast her light now, attempting to close the craters and holes of his wounds, his scarred body, marked so prominently by herself on Starkiller Base.

He had fallen fighting by her side as he had on the _Supremacy_ , their minds melded and their bodies attuned to back to back combat.

He was hers, and she was his, and she would bear his body as she had borne his spirit and presence all these many cycles, nurturing her secret deep in her heart as she now nurtured his body deep from within.

Similarly to a sun causing plants to grow, creating life after death, as she had learned so powerfully on Ahch-To, now she cast light over the dark places in Ben Solo’s soul, his crackling, almost violent Force energy responding to her touch.

She knitted together flesh and veins as best she could. The ancient Jedi texts were none too clear regarding Force healing. She had practiced before, as best she could, under Doctor Kalonia’s supervision, but never with wounds as grievous as this.

Never with someone as powerful in the Force as she, someone she loved so dearly. Someone with whom she felt utterly complete and intimate, her soul completely open and unburdened.

So focused was she on her task that she forgot her own exhaustion and injuries. The hours drifted away like so many grains of sand on Jakku, and the temperature plummeted after the sun started sinking into the horizon.

It was only when she could no longer move her hands the way she wanted to that she realized she needed to stop and remove herself from Ben’s consciousness. Her hands were going numb, she realized as she returned to herself. It was getting colder, and she had nothing in the way of a medpack or emergency kit with a blanket. Her clothes were soaked through with sweat and blood. Blowing on her hands and rubbing them together, attempting to return feeling, she fumbled at Ben’s cape to tear it into bandage strips. She wrapped what she could of her own injuries, and then gave in to her desire to sleep. She clambered over Ben, pulled him as gently as she could onto his side, then tried to arrange his cape over them, moving his right arm to be around her.

She slept, blissfully without nightmares, in the quiet of the cave and the forest, her energy utterly spent.

 

* * *

 

He was dreaming. Unlike his usual dreams, more properly termed nightmares, this dream was warm and peaceful. He thought perhaps he had died on the battlefield, and that this beautiful world he was seeing was the netherworld of the Force, but he knew that could not be correct, for he would have been greeted by those who had gone before him if that were so.

He so badly wanted to be greeted by his grandfather, but he was not sure if he could be greeted by someone who redeemed himself as his grandfather had. Ben Solo thought his netherworld of the Force would be filled with the ghosts of the angry dead, those who had not been forgiven their sins, the wounds of the Dark Side ever present. He was certain that even in death he would be haunted by Snoke.

But he was not dead. His world at the moment smelled of the earth and felt like the sun on his face. There was a woman there, someone he loved, but it was not his mother or Aunt Amilyn. Her face was hidden by the sunlight, but he could feel her presence. It was reassuring; he knew she belonged there, with him, in that peaceful place. He did not understand or know what he had done that he could finally deserve such peace. His waking life had been a torment of pain and misery since he was a child. It was only after he met Rey that he could temporarily forget his own permanent existential crisis.

Rey. Where was Rey?

She was there with him. He felt her touch, as steady now as it had been tentative the first time they touched, when she was wherever she was with his uncle before the _Supremacy_.

It was Rey who brought him the sunlight and the peace. She touched him, and he felt complete as he never had, like they belonged together, her light and his darkness, though he could never deserve her and would spend his entire life attempting to deserve her love, her compassion, her patience.

He responded to her touch, leaning into her hands, feeling her energy, her powerful Force presence cascading over his body. She was so soft yet strong, brilliant in the light yet tinged with a deep and unyielding darkness.

Just like him. They were the balance the Prime Jedi wanted and for which they strove.

Ben’s vision passed from him as he fell into a deep sleep, comforted by Rey’s warmth and light.

 

* * *

 

When Ben awoke, he had no idea where he was. Everything was sore. But his arm was slung around Rey, clumsily, and suddenly his memories came flooding back.

The battle. Hux’s coup. The stormtrooper platoons turning on him as soon as he landed planetside and then being decimated by the Resistance in turn.

He didn’t have to worry about any of that anymore. All that mattered was here with him, tucked under his arm. However, his contentment soon turned to alarm when he noticed the dark circles under Rey’s eyes, even as she slept; her tunic was covered in bloodstains and he noted how she had ripped strips from his cape to create makeshift bandages for them both.

Attempting to gently shift himself without waking her, his left arm numb for having been underneath him, he took a deep breath and attempted to recall his rudimentary training in Force healing. It was something in which his uncle was interested and for which they searched for more information, before the night at the academy when he demonized them both.

He imagined Luke Skywalker laughing at him from the beyond as he placed his hands on Rey’s side, under her arm, and reached out with the Force.

Even despite her injuries and exhaustion, Rey’s presence was everything of which he dreamed, everything he felt in his dream-like vision the night before.

He felt her presence embrace him, call him back to the light, whisper the word balance in his ear, making his hair stand up at the back of his neck. He let go of his own darkness, letting it go to mollify the darkness within her that reacted to his. He breathed, and concentrated, and felt flesh closing over under his hands, blood flowing smoothly once more.

It was then that he realized he was doing exactly what she had been doing, what caused his deep sleep and dreaming vision. He smiled, and reached out with the Force as a caress over her hair, a kiss to her now rosy cheek.

 

* * *

 

When Rey awoke, she noticed first that Ben was no longer laying at her side. He was sitting with his back to the cave wall behind her, watching her wake up with a small, quiet smile on his face. He had started a small fire to keep them warm.

He helped her out of the cave, his cape draped around her shoulders, to a nearby stream to wash herself off. In her frantic, weary attempt to find them shelter, she passed the fresh water by, setting healing as a higher priority. She knew from her time on Jakku that she could go hours without drinking. The water was still untainted by the battle that had just taken place the day before.

Ben averted his eyes while she washed, then helped her back to the cave where she spread out her clothes to dry near their fire. He attempted to avert his eyes once again, but she walked over to him despite the blush spreading across his pale cheeks. She took his chin in her hand, and gently turned his face toward her.

“Ben,” she murmured, and pulled off her tunic and breast band.

She stood before him, naked and glowing from the firelight, then started pulling his clothes off as well.

They kissed, holding each other and enjoying the sensations of each other’s bodies for hours. Both had collected new scars, but believed it made the other all the more beautiful for their imperfections, the wounds they had sustained and overcome, both physical and emotional.

“Rey,” Ben murmured as she straddled him by the fire, the flickering flames making his eyes golden in the darkness. She was the most beautiful being he had ever seen.

 _I love you_ , he whispered across their bond.

 _I know,_ she replied, then moaned as he entered her.

They fell asleep entwined once more, living to fight another day.

They would have to face the galaxy eventually. They would accept their fate as the Force willed it, and continue to strive for balance. Together, they walked out of the cave and into the sunshine, their arms around each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my beta boo Desiree as always for her help and making me laugh. And of course a huge thank you to V/aionimica for reblogging my Tumblr giveaway in the first place! Please come talk to me there and leave feedback here as well.


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